FanDuel advice: What do the price gaps mean?

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That signified, in my mind, demarcations between types of players. If Player 6 and Player 7 were only two points apart, but Player 7 and Player 8 were 25, well, that meant something.

It occurred to me this week that the same general thinking could be applied to FanDuel salaries. Yes, it’s easy to say who is more expensive than the other, but how much more expensive is important, too.

So, this week, instead of looking at price changes, I thought I’d take a look at gaps in the weekly salaries. The saying goes that you don’t want to buy the best house in a bad neighborhood. You should buy the worst house in the good neighborhood. It’s something of the opposite here: You don’t want the cheapest guy in the most expensive tier; you want the most expensive guy in the cheapest tier. (I’ve shaved off the nameless masses at the bottom of the FanDuel salary lists. I don’t see a lot of value in finding what tier Brad Smelley falls in.)

The first tier is made up of our top three quarterbacks, with Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Andrew Luck the most expensive guys before a dropoff. After that, Philip Rivers, facing a generous Baltimore defense, has a group all to himself. There’s literally not more than a $100 difference between any two guys at the position until the Jay Cutler-Marcus Mariota gap, way down at 18th at the position. And from there, it’s pretty smooth down to the bottom of quasi-relevance.

Once again, our first tier is three deep, with Devonta Freeman, Le’Veon Bell and Adrian Peterson at least $600 more expensive than anyone else at the position. There’s a big dropoff to Marshawn Lynch, and that starts a four-player tier to Mark Ingram. Another four-player tier bring us to Chris Johnson, and then it’s the unwashed masses, with no more than $100 separating players through No. 30, and the Danny Woodhead-Duke Johnson Jr. gap.

Two players at the top here, with Julio Jones and DeAndre Hopkins both a few hundred more expensive than the rest of their position. There isn’t a huge gap after that, but the $200 between Dez Bryant and Mike Evans feels like a demarcation point. Wide receiver really levels off after that, with no significant gap until Martavis Bryant at 20 and Brandin Cooks/Jeremy Maclin after that, $400 cheaper. And then we’re into the “bunch of guys” portion of our evening.

Well, Rob Gronkowski is obvious. He towers over the rest of the tight ends like no one at any position (ever?). It’s smooth sailing down to Antonio Gates at seven, creating a Martellus Bennett-only tier, and than Eric Ebron kicks off the “meh” portion of our position.